ABS to class first Jones Act WTIV

Illustration of the WTIV (Source: ABS)

The first Jones Act-compliant wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV), under construction at Keppel AmFELS in Brownsville, Texas, will be classed by ABS. The 150m-long WTIV, under construction for Virgina-based power company, Dominion Energy, is to be named Charybdis and is being built to a GustoMSC design. It will be capable of handling turbines of more than 12MW as well as turbine foundation installation.

UK-based offshore wind vessel operator, Seajacks, is supporting Dominion Energy in construction and operations oversight. Netherlands-based Huisman will supply a 2,200-tonne Leg Encircling Crane for the new vessel and the company’s Texas subsidiary, Huisman North America, will undertake testing and commissioning of the crane at the shipyard.

Jones Act-compliant offshore wind vessels of various types are essential for the planned development of this sector in the United States. As yet, the country only has one operational wind farm – the Block Island facility off Rhode Island – but there are plans for a number of new wind farms in both the relatively shallow waters off the east coast and in deeper waters in the west.

Mark D. Mitchell, Dominion Energy’s senior vice president of Project Construction, commented: “Dominion Energy is proud to be leading a consortium of respected industry participants in the construction of the first Jones Act-compliant offshore wind turbine installation vessel, which will provide significant American jobs and provide a reliable, home-grown installation solution with the capacity to handle the next-generation of large-scale, highly efficient turbine technologies. This will better enable the offshore wind industry to bring clean, renewable energy to customers in the United States.”

ABS will also class the first Jones Act-compliant service operation vessel (SOV) to be built at Edison Chouest Offshore. When completed, the vessel will support operations at the Revolution Wind, South Fork Wind, and Sunrise Wind offshore wind farms off the north-east coast. The classification society has also issued approvals in principle for two Jones Act-compliant SOVs to Vard.

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